Closingracer

Intermediate. Standard are a few cars and you'll most likely just get a Full size probably. The only cars I know on the top of my head atm that national classifies as standard is the Buick Verano, Volkswagen Jetta and the crysler 200. I haven't seen a Jetta in a long time and the last one I saw was a 15 model year. Therr is probably a few other models but I haven't seen them.

OSLexpat

I have a question concerning Free days and Executive Elite.

While going through a booking I see that the free day will apply to most the cars offered with the exception of the Luxury Elite SUV. It appears that class is ineligible for free days.

The location I'm looking at, HNL, has other cars such as BMW 4, 5, 7, X3 series which are never offered to book on the website, but is usually always on the upgrade aisle. Are those cars also ineligible for free days as an EE?

I read somewhere that you can just book a car with a free day, and then when you go to pick up just ask for any car on the lot and the free day will still apply. Is that true?

hpark21

I am an EE (through Chase Reserve), can I book Intermediate through priceline and still get Exec Isle cars? (or possibly free upgrade)?

Or do I have to book through National's website?

Thanks.

OSLexpat

I can't find any rules in writing about this but my experience is NO.

I rented a midsize through Expedia where I could put down my Emerald number. The reservation even showed up on my national account. When I went to pick up the car I was told I could only get a car from the category I reserved and that third-party bookings was not eligible for the aisle. I was executive when I rented.

dwbf11

This is the official line, however, others on here have reported being able to take their Priceline/Kayak/etc. midsize+ booking and being granted access to the EA/ES. Personally I have never been allowed to take off the EA/ES with a third party booking. YMMV.

jackal

And conversely, I've never not been able to take one off the ES when on a third-party (standard OTA) booking. The reservation shows up 100% normally on NationalCar.com and, as far as I can tell, everything is treated as if I had booked it on NationalCar.com.

The only issue is that some OTAs seem to be broken and not pass frequent renter data over to the rental company, even if they accept it on their own site. I think Expedia might be one of the ones that's broken, actually. Lack of having your EC# in the reservation would certainly preclude you from taking from the EA/EC.

One telltale way to make sure your EC# was applied is to look at the confirmation number. EHI adds a suffix to all GDS-booked reservations. If the suffix is COUNT, then you have counter service (note that all Alamo and Enterprise reservations will show a suffix of COUNT, as they only offer counter service and nothing else). If your reservation ends in AISLE, then you have EA service as a standard EC member, and if your reservation ends in EXSEL, then you have Executive Selection access. A suffix of RESRV means you have Emerald Reserve service, and EXCNT would I guess be Executive Counter service (for locations that don't have Aisle service?). There's also BOOTH, which means go to the booth, I guess. I think I've seen some with some permutation of VIP at the end, too, but those are of course rare. If yours ends in COUNT even though you put an EC# in, then your EC# probably wasn't transmitted to National's system.

In any case, YMMV, apparently, on this topic...

OSLexpat

Thanks for the great information. My confirmation code did indeed end with COUNT when I booked with Expedia with my Emerald number attached. It showed up just fine in my account on nationalcar.com though.

I will try an OTA booking again and be on the lookout for the suffix. If I get COUNT again I will just cancel.

hpark21

Ok.. I tried to book through priceline and got the COUNTER reservation #. That said, Priceline's confirmation included all the discount codes that was applied through AutoSlash and I was able to book through national's website through my EE # and I was able to get Exec Aisle for same price.

Unfortunately, this may mean that AutoSlash would not get their commission but this will make my chance of getting better than "Elantra" far higher.

Thanks.

AutoSlash

We've done some testing and have determined that Priceline's system is broken and does not pass the Emerald Club number over to National. We've reported the issue to them and they're working on an assessment to fix some of the issues we've raised with their tech team.

GDS-booked reservations definitely do qualify for Aisle/ES service--our old Sabre-based reservation system worked fine. It's a bug in Priceline's site (or GDS link or something), not anything inherent on National's end.

(Thanks for thinking of our commission--we do appreciate the concern, but we completely understand preferring Executive Selection access! Hopefully either Priceline will fix their system soon or we'll be able to host direct links to other vendors that do properly pass Emerald Club info.)

hpark21

Thank YOU and your site for pointing me towards very good rate. I would have probably saved around $600 since I did not do enough research to get the rate code that your site was able to find for me.

I would encourage everyone to at least try your site first.

txviking

I tried looking up rental rates with AutoSlash. Was offered a good rate through National, but the National web site said I was using my WestJet corporate discount? Pretty sure I'd not be able to show any affiliation with WestJet if challenged, so I wasn't comfortable doing that.

Wound up using Chase UR points to reserve the car instead. More expensive rate, and had the same problem with EC number not transferring over from the Chase portal (got a "COUNT" -- counter -- reservation number.)

hpark21

My understanding is that "WestJet" code is not for their employee but the "guest" of WestJet (AKA customers). That said, from my research (I was a bit taken back by the use by Autoslash as well), the code has been in use since 2010. Also, if you do take "counter bypass" route, I don't think they will check.

Only "corporate" codes that I hear of having issues are the ones that includes "LDW" and or other insurances built in. IF there are issues and the built in LDW has to be used, the "sponsors" may bark at it and deny coverage since renters were not qualified to use the discount.

AutoSlash

It's available for anyone who signs up (for free) for Westjet's FF program:

https://www.nationalcar.ca/en_US/car...westjet-2.html

txviking

Thanks for the clarification, I'll keep that in mind for future rentals. This time, I wound up using Chase UR points for the reservation (points beat cash, after all.)

One thing that is a bit frustrating is that not only did Chase not push my Emerald Club number through (same problem you guys had with Priceline,) but when I called National, they said I can't bypass the counter even WITH the EC number because "this rental was booked using a voucher." They said I should still be able to choose any car at the airport, but I'll need to stop by the counter first. Now I'm a bit nervous that I may be stuck with whatever they give me. Not the end of the world, but the flexibility of choosing any car is a large part of why I rent from National to begin with.

I'll report back and let the forum know what happens.

AutoSlash

You won't have any problem. You simply need to stop by the counter because the billing is handled differently. Status is status and you get all the benefits of your status level regardless of where you book.